Modulation schemes in a wireless device and wireless network

ABSTRACT

A wireless device may receive at least one message comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells being in a cross-carrier scheduling group comprising a first cell and a second cell. The first cell identified by a first cell identifier may employ a first number of bits. The configuration parameters may indicate that the second cell is a cross-carrier scheduling cell for the first cell. The configuration parameters may comprise the first cell identifier and a first cell indicator field. The first cell indicator field may employ a second number of bits. The wireless device may receive downlink control information via a control channel of the second cell for a packet transmitted via the first cell. The downlink control information may comprise the first cell indicator field identifying the first cell. The wireless device may receive the packet on the first cell via radio resources identified by the downlink control information.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/557,504, filed Aug. 30, 2019, which is a continuation of U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 15/867,610, filed Jan. 10, 2018, now U.S. Pat. No.10,485,010, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.15/090,640, filed Apr. 5, 2016, now U.S. Pat. No. 9,877,334, whichclaims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/143,177, filedApr. 5, 2015. Each of the above-referenced applications is herebyincorporated by reference in its entirety.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS

Examples of several of the various embodiments of the present inventionare described herein with reference to the drawings.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers in a carrier group as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a base station and a wireless device as peran aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is an example diagram for a protocol structure with CA and DC asper an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention.

FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCH groups as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 12 illustrates example groupings of cells into one or more PUCCHgroups and one or more TAGs as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 14 shows an example cell grouping as per an aspect of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 15 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 16 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Example embodiments of the present invention enable operation ofmultiple physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. Embodiments ofthe technology disclosed herein may be employed in the technical fieldof multicarrier communication systems. More particularly, theembodiments of the technology disclosed herein may relate to operationof PUCCH groups and/or cross-carrier scheduling groups.

The following Acronyms are used throughout the present disclosure:

ASIC application-specific integrated circuit

BPSK binary phase shift keying

CA carrier aggregation

CSI channel state information

CDMA code division multiple access

CSS common search space

CPLD complex programmable logic devices

CC component carrier

DL downlink

DCI downlink control information

DC dual connectivity

EPC evolved packet core

E-UTRAN evolved-universal terrestrial radio access network

FPGA field programmable gate arrays

FDD frequency division multiplexing

HDL hardware description languages

HARQ hybrid automatic repeat request

IE information element

LTE long term evolution

MCG master cell group

MeNB master evolved node B

MIB master information block

MAC media access control

MAC media access control

MME mobility management entity

NAS non-access stratum

OFDM orthogonal frequency division multiplexing

PDCP packet data convergence protocol

PDU packet data unit

PHY physical

PDCCH physical downlink control channel

PHICH physical HARQ indicator channel

PUCCH physical uplink control channel

PUSCH physical uplink shared channel

PCell primary cell

PCC primary component carrier

PSCell primary secondary cell

pTAG primary timing advance group

QAM quadrature amplitude modulation

QPSK quadrature phase shift keying

RBG Resource Block Groups

RLC radio link control

RRC radio resource control

RA random access

RB resource blocks

SCC secondary component carrier

SCell secondary cell

Scell secondary cells

SCG secondary cell group

SeNB secondary evolved node B

sTAGs secondary timing advance group

SDU service data unit

S-GW serving gateway

SRB signaling radio bearer

SC-OFDM single carrier-OFDM

SFN system frame number

SIB system information block

TAI tracking area identifier

TAT time alignment timer

TDD time division duplexing

TDMA time division multiple access

TA timing advance

TAG timing advance group

TB transport block

UL uplink

UE user equipment

VHDL VHSIC hardware description language

Example embodiments of the invention may be implemented using variousphysical layer modulation and transmission mechanisms. Exampletransmission mechanisms may include, but are not limited to: CDMA, OFDM,TDMA, Wavelet technologies, and/or the like. Hybrid transmissionmechanisms such as TDMA/CDMA, and OFDM/CDMA may also be employed.Various modulation schemes may be applied for signal transmission in thephysical layer. Examples of modulation schemes include, but are notlimited to: phase, amplitude, code, a combination of these, and/or thelike. An example radio transmission method may implement QAM using BPSK,QPSK, 16-QAM, 64-QAM, 256-QAM, and/or the like. Physical radiotransmission may be enhanced by dynamically or semi-dynamically changingthe modulation and coding scheme depending on transmission requirementsand radio conditions.

FIG. 1 is a diagram depicting example sets of OFDM subcarriers as per anaspect of an embodiment of the present invention. As illustrated in thisexample, arrow(s) in the diagram may depict a subcarrier in amulticarrier OFDM system. The OFDM system may use technology such asOFDM technology, SC-OFDM technology, or the like. For example, arrow 101shows a subcarrier transmitting information symbols. FIG. 1 is forillustration purposes, and a typical multicarrier OFDM system mayinclude more subcarriers in a carrier. For example, the number ofsubcarriers in a carrier may be in the range of 10 to 10,000subcarriers. FIG. 1 shows two guard bands 106 and 107 in a transmissionband. As illustrated in FIG. 1 , guard band 106 is between subcarriers103 and subcarriers 104. The example set of subcarriers A 102 includessubcarriers 103 and subcarriers 104. FIG. 1 also illustrates an exampleset of subcarriers B 105. As illustrated, there is no guard band betweenany two subcarriers in the example set of subcarriers B 105. Carriers ina multicarrier OFDM communication system may be contiguous carriers,non-contiguous carriers, or a combination of both contiguous andnon-contiguous carriers.

FIG. 2 is a diagram depicting an example transmission time and receptiontime for two carriers as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. A multicarrier OFDM communication system may include one ormore carriers, for example, ranging from 1 to 10 carriers. Carrier A 204and carrier B 205 may have the same or different timing structures.Although FIG. 2 shows two synchronized carriers, carrier A 204 andcarrier B 205 may or may not be synchronized with each other. Differentradio frame structures may be supported for FDD and TDD duplexmechanisms. FIG. 2 shows an example FDD frame timing. Downlink anduplink transmissions may be organized into radio frames 201. In thisexample, radio frame duration is 10 msec. Other frame durations, forexample, in the range of 1 to 100 msec may also be supported. In thisexample, each 10 ms radio frame 201 may be divided into ten equallysized subframes 202. Other subframe durations such as including 0.5msec, 1 msec, 2 msec, and 5 msec may also be supported. Subframe(s) mayconsist of two or more slots (e.g. slots 206 and 207). For the exampleof FDD, 10 subframes may be available for downlink transmission and 10subframes may be available for uplink transmissions in each 10 msinterval. Uplink and downlink transmissions may be separated in thefrequency domain. Slot(s) may include a plurality of OFDM symbols 203.The number of OFDM symbols 203 in a slot 206 may depend on the cyclicprefix length and subcarrier spacing.

FIG. 3 is a diagram depicting OFDM radio resources as per an aspect ofan embodiment of the present invention. The resource grid structure intime 304 and frequency 305 is illustrated in FIG. 3 . The quantity ofdownlink subcarriers or RBs (in this example 6 to 100 RBs) may depend,at least in part, on the downlink transmission bandwidth 306 configuredin the cell. The smallest radio resource unit may be called a resourceelement (e.g. 301). Resource elements may be grouped into resourceblocks (e.g. 302). Resource blocks may be grouped into larger radioresources called Resource Block Groups (RBG) (e.g. 303). The transmittedsignal in slot 206 may be described by one or several resource grids ofa plurality of subcarriers and a plurality of OFDM symbols. Resourceblocks may be used to describe the mapping of certain physical channelsto resource elements. Other pre-defined groupings of physical resourceelements may be implemented in the system depending on the radiotechnology. For example, 24 subcarriers may be grouped as a radio blockfor a duration of 5 msec. In an illustrative example, a resource blockmay correspond to one slot in the time domain and 180 kHz in thefrequency domain (for 15 kHz subcarrier bandwidth and 12 subcarriers).

FIG. 5A, FIG. 5B, FIG. 5C and FIG. 5D are example diagrams for uplinkand downlink signal transmission as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. FIG. 5A shows an example uplink physical channelThe baseband signal representing the physical uplink shared channel mayperform the following processes. These functions are illustrated asexamples and it is anticipated that other mechanisms may be implementedin various embodiments. The functions may comprise scrambling,modulation of scrambled bits to generate complex-valued symbols, mappingof the complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or severaltransmission layers, transform precoding to generate complex-valuedsymbols, precoding of the complex-valued symbols, mapping of precodedcomplex-valued symbols to resource elements, generation ofcomplex-valued time-domain SC-FDMA signal for each antenna port, and/orthe like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued SC-FDMA baseband signal for each antenna port and/or thecomplex-valued PRACH baseband signal is shown in FIG. 5B. Filtering maybe employed prior to transmission.

An example structure for Downlink Transmissions is shown in FIG. 5C. Thebaseband signal representing a downlink physical channel may perform thefollowing processes. These functions are illustrated as examples and itis anticipated that other mechanisms may be implemented in variousembodiments. The functions include scrambling of coded bits in each ofthe codewords to be transmitted on a physical channel; modulation ofscrambled bits to generate complex-valued modulation symbols; mapping ofthe complex-valued modulation symbols onto one or several transmissionlayers; precoding of the complex-valued modulation symbols on each layerfor transmission on the antenna ports; mapping of complex-valuedmodulation symbols for each antenna port to resource elements;generation of complex-valued time-domain OFDM signal for each antennaport, and/or the like.

Example modulation and up-conversion to the carrier frequency of thecomplex-valued OFDM baseband signal for each antenna port is shown inFIG. 5D. Filtering may be employed prior to transmission.

FIG. 4 is an example block diagram of a base station 401 and a wirelessdevice 406, as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.A communication network 400 may include at least one base station 401and at least one wireless device 406. The base station 401 may includeat least one communication interface 402, at least one processor 403,and at least one set of program code instructions 405 stored innon-transitory memory 404 and executable by the at least one processor403. The wireless device 406 may include at least one communicationinterface 407, at least one processor 408, and at least one set ofprogram code instructions 410 stored in non-transitory memory 409 andexecutable by the at least one processor 408. Communication interface402 in base station 401 may be configured to engage in communicationwith communication interface 407 in wireless device 406 via acommunication path that includes at least one wireless link 411.Wireless link 411 may be a bi-directional link. Communication interface407 in wireless device 406 may also be configured to engage in acommunication with communication interface 402 in base station 401. Basestation 401 and wireless device 406 may be configured to send andreceive data over wireless link 411 using multiple frequency carriers.According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, transceiver(s)may be employed. A transceiver is a device that includes both atransmitter and receiver. Transceivers may be employed in devices suchas wireless devices, base stations, relay nodes, and/or the like.Example embodiments for radio technology implemented in communicationinterface 402, 407 and wireless link 411 are illustrated in FIG. 1 ,FIG. 2 , FIG. 3 , FIG. 5 , and associated text.

An interface may be a hardware interface, a firmware interface, asoftware interface, and/or a combination thereof. The hardware interfacemay include connectors, wires, electronic devices such as drivers,amplifiers, and/or the like. A software interface may include codestored in a memory device to implement protocol(s), protocol layers,communication drivers, device drivers, combinations thereof, and/or thelike. A firmware interface may include a combination of embeddedhardware and code stored in and/or in communication with a memory deviceto implement connections, electronic device operations, protocol(s),protocol layers, communication drivers, device drivers, hardwareoperations, combinations thereof, and/or the like.

The term configured may relate to the capacity of a device whether thedevice is in an operational or non-operational state. Configured mayalso refer to specific settings in a device that effect the operationalcharacteristics of the device whether the device is in an operational ornon-operational state. In other words, the hardware, software, firmware,registers, memory values, and/or the like may be “configured” within adevice, whether the device is in an operational or nonoperational state,to provide the device with specific characteristics. Terms such as “acontrol message to cause in a device” may mean that a control messagehas parameters that may be used to configure specific characteristics inthe device, whether the device is in an operational or non-operationalstate.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, an LTE networkmay include a multitude of base stations, providing a user planePDCP/RLC/MAC/PHY and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towardsthe wireless device. The base station(s) may be interconnected withother base station(s) (e.g. employing an X2 interface). The basestations may also be connected employing, for example, an S1 interfaceto an EPC. For example, the base stations may be interconnected to theMME employing the S1-MME interface and to the S-G) employing the S1-Uinterface. The S1 interface may support a many-to-many relation betweenMMEs/Serving Gateways and base stations. A base station may include manysectors for example: 1, 2, 3, 4, or 6 sectors. A base station mayinclude many cells, for example, ranging from 1 to 50 cells or more. Acell may be categorized, for example, as a primary cell or secondarycell. At RRC connection establishment/re-establishment/handover, oneserving cell may provide the NAS (non-access stratum) mobilityinformation (e.g. TAI), and at RRC connection re-establishment/handover,one serving cell may provide the security input. This cell may bereferred to as the Primary Cell (PCell). In the downlink, the carriercorresponding to the PCell may be the Downlink Primary Component Carrier(DL PCC), while in the uplink, it may be the Uplink Primary ComponentCarrier (UL PCC). Depending on wireless device capabilities, SecondaryCells (SCells) may be configured to form together with the PCell a setof serving cells. In the downlink, the carrier corresponding to an SCellmay be a Downlink Secondary Component Carrier (DL SCC), while in theuplink, it may be an Uplink Secondary Component Carrier (UL SCC). AnSCell may or may not have an uplink carrier.

A cell, comprising a downlink carrier and optionally an uplink carrier,may be assigned a physical cell ID and a cell index. A carrier (downlinkor uplink) may belong to only one cell. The cell ID or Cell index mayalso identify the downlink carrier or uplink carrier of the cell(depending on the context it is used). In the specification, cell ID maybe equally referred to a carrier ID, and cell index may be referred tocarrier index. In implementation, the physical cell ID or cell index maybe assigned to a cell. A cell ID may be determined using asynchronization signal transmitted on a downlink carrier. A cell indexmay be determined using RRC messages. For example, when thespecification refers to a first physical cell ID for a first downlinkcarrier, the specification may mean the first physical cell ID is for acell comprising the first downlink carrier. The same concept may applyto, for example, carrier activation. When the specification indicatesthat a first carrier is activated, the specification may equally meanthat the cell comprising the first carrier is activated.

Embodiments may be configured to operate as needed. The disclosedmechanism may be performed when certain criteria are met, for example,in a wireless device, a base station, a radio environment, a network, acombination of the above, and/or the like. Example criteria may bebased, at least in part, on for example, traffic load, initial systemset up, packet sizes, traffic characteristics, a combination of theabove, and/or the like. When the one or more criteria are met, variousexample embodiments may be applied. Therefore, it may be possible toimplement example embodiments that selectively implement disclosedprotocols.

A base station may communicate with a mix of wireless devices. Wirelessdevices may support multiple technologies, and/or multiple releases ofthe same technology. Wireless devices may have some specificcapability(ies) depending on its wireless device category and/orcapability(ies). A base station may comprise multiple sectors. When thisdisclosure refers to a base station communicating with a plurality ofwireless devices, this disclosure may refer to a subset of the totalwireless devices in a coverage area. This disclosure may refer to, forexample, a plurality of wireless devices of a given LTE release with agiven capability and in a given sector of the base station. Theplurality of wireless devices in this disclosure may refer to a selectedplurality of wireless devices, and/or a subset of total wireless devicesin a coverage area which perform according to disclosed methods, and/orthe like. There may be a plurality of wireless devices in a coveragearea that may not comply with the disclosed methods, for example,because those wireless devices perform based on older releases of LTEtechnology.

FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 are example diagrams for protocol structure with CAand DC as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention.E-UTRAN may support Dual Connectivity (DC) operation whereby a multipleRX/TX UE in RRC_CONNECTED may be configured to utilize radio resourcesprovided by two schedulers located in two eNBs connected via a non-idealbackhaul over the X2 interface. eNBs involved in DC for a certain UE mayassume two different roles: an eNB may either act as an MeNB or as anSeNB. In DC a UE may be connected to one MeNB and one SeNB. Mechanismsimplemented in DC may be extended to cover more than two eNBs. FIG. 7illustrates one example structure for the UE side MAC entities when aMaster Cell Group (MCG) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) are configured,and it may not restrict implementation. Media Broadcast MulticastService (MBMS) reception is not shown in this figure for simplicity.

In DC, the radio protocol architecture that a particular bearer uses maydepend on how the bearer is setup. Three alternatives may exist, an MCGbearer, an SCG bearer and a split bearer as shown in FIG. 6 . RRC may belocated in MeNB and SRBs may be configured as a MCG bearer type and mayuse the radio resources of the MeNB. DC may also be described as havingat least one bearer configured to use radio resources provided by theSeNB. DC may or may not be configured/implemented in example embodimentsof the invention.

In the case of DC, the UE may be configured with two MAC entities: oneMAC entity for MeNB, and one MAC entity for SeNB. In DC, the configuredset of serving cells for a UE may comprise of two subsets: the MasterCell Group (MCG) containing the serving cells of the MeNB, and theSecondary Cell Group (SCG) containing the serving cells of the SeNB. Fora SCG, one or more of the following may be applied: at least one cell inthe SCG has a configured UL CC and one of them, named PSCell (or PCellof SCG, or sometimes called PCell), is configured with PUCCH resources;when the SCG is configured, there may be at least one SCG bearer or oneSplit bearer; upon detection of a physical layer problem or a randomaccess problem on a PSCell, or the maximum number of RLC retransmissionshas been reached associated with the SCG, or upon detection of an accessproblem on a PSCell during a SCG addition or a SCG change: a RRCconnection re-establishment procedure may not be triggered, ULtransmissions towards cells of the SCG are stopped, a MeNB may beinformed by the UE of a SCG failure type, for split bearer, the DL datatransfer over the MeNB is maintained; the RLC AM bearer may beconfigured for the split bearer; like PCell, PSCell may not bede-activated; PSCell may be changed with a SCG change (e.g. withsecurity key change and a RACH procedure); and/or neither a directbearer type change between a Split bearer and a SCG bearer norsimultaneous configuration of a SCG and a Split bearer are supported.

With respect to the interaction between a MeNB and a SeNB, one or moreof the following principles may be applied: the MeNB may maintain theRRM measurement configuration of the UE and may, (e.g., based onreceived measurement reports or traffic conditions or bearer types),decide to ask a SeNB to provide additional resources (serving cells) fora UE; upon receiving a request from the MeNB, a SeNB may create acontainer that may result in the configuration of additional servingcells for the UE (or decide that it has no resource available to do so);for UE capability coordination, the MeNB may provide (part of) the ASconfiguration and the UE capabilities to the SeNB; the MeNB and the SeNBmay exchange information about a UE configuration by employing of RRCcontainers (inter-node messages) carried in X2 messages; the SeNB mayinitiate a reconfiguration of its existing serving cells (e.g., PUCCHtowards the SeNB); the SeNB may decide which cell is the PSCell withinthe SCG; the MeNB may not change the content of the RRC configurationprovided by the SeNB; in the case of a SCG addition and a SCG SCelladdition, the MeNB may provide the latest measurement results for theSCG cell(s); both a MeNB and a SeNB may know the SFN and subframe offsetof each other by OAM, (e.g., for the purpose of DRX alignment andidentification of a measurement gap). In an example, when adding a newSCG SCell, dedicated RRC signalling may be used for sending requiredsystem information of the cell as for CA, except for the SFN acquiredfrom a MIB of the PSCell of a SCG.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, serving cellshaving an uplink to which the same time alignment (TA) applies may begrouped in a TA group (TAG). Serving cells in one TAG may use the sametiming reference. For a given TAG, user equipment (UE) may use onedownlink carrier as a timing reference at a given time. The UE may use adownlink carrier in a TAG as a timing reference for that TAG. For agiven TAG, a UE may synchronize uplink subframe and frame transmissiontiming of uplink carriers belonging to the same TAG. According to someof the various aspects of embodiments, serving cells having an uplink towhich the same TA applies may correspond to serving cells hosted by thesame receiver. A TA group may comprise at least one serving cell with aconfigured uplink. A UE supporting multiple TAs may support two or moreTA groups. One TA group may contain the PCell and may be called aprimary TAG (pTAG). In a multiple TAG configuration, at least one TAgroup may not contain the PCell and may be called a secondary TAG(sTAG). Carriers within the same TA group may use the same TA value andthe same timing reference. When DC is configured, cells belonging to acell group (MCG or SCG) may be grouped into multiple TAGs including apTAG and one or more sTAGs.

FIG. 8 shows example TAG configurations as per an aspect of anembodiment of the present invention. In Example 1, pTAG comprises PCell,and an sTAG comprises SCell1. In Example 2, a pTAG comprises a PCell andSCell1, and an sTAG comprises SCell2 and SCell3. In Example 3, pTAGcomprises PCell and SCell1, and an sTAG1 includes SCell2 and SCell3, andsTAG2 comprises SCell4. Up to four TAGs may be supported in a cell group(MCG or SCG) and other example TAG configurations may also be provided.In various examples in this disclosure, example mechanisms are describedfor a pTAG and an sTAG. The operation with one example sTAG isdescribed, and the same operation may be applicable to other sTAGs. Theexample mechanisms may be applied to configurations with multiple sTAGs.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, TA maintenance,pathloss reference handling and a timing reference for a pTAG may followLTE release 10 principles in the MCG and/or SCG. The UE may need tomeasure downlink pathloss to calculate uplink transmit power. A pathlossreference may be used for uplink power control and/or transmission ofrandom access preamble(s). UE may measure downlink pathloss usingsignals received on a pathloss reference cell. For SCell(s) in a pTAG,the choice of a pathloss reference for cells may be selected from and/orbe limited to the following two options: a) the downlink SCell linked toan uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2), and b) thedownlink PCell. The pathloss reference for SCells in a pTAG may beconfigurable using RRC message(s) as a part of an SCell initialconfiguration and/or reconfiguration. According to some of the variousaspects of embodiments, a PhysicalConfigDedicatedSCell informationelement (IE) of an SCell configuration may include a pathloss referenceSCell (downlink carrier) for an SCell in a pTAG. The downlink SCelllinked to an uplink SCell using system information block 2 (SIB2) may bereferred to as the SIB2 linked downlink of the SCell. Different TAGs mayoperate in different bands. For an uplink carrier in an sTAG, thepathloss reference may be only configurable to the downlink SCell linkedto an uplink SCell using the system information block 2 (SIB2) of theSCell.

To obtain initial uplink (UL) time alignment for an sTAG, an eNB mayinitiate an RA procedure. In an sTAG, a UE may use one of any activatedSCells from this sTAG as a timing reference cell. In an exampleembodiment, the timing reference for SCells in an sTAG may be the SIB2linked downlink of the SCell on which the preamble for the latest RAprocedure was sent. There may be one timing reference and one timealignment timer (TAT) per TA group. A TAT for TAGs may be configuredwith different values. In a MAC entity, when a TAT associated with apTAG expires: all TATs may be considered as expired, the UE may flushHARQ buffers of serving cells, the UE may clear any configured downlinkassignment/uplink grants, and the RRC in the UE may release PUCCH/SRSfor all configured serving cells. When the pTAG TAT is not running, ansTAG TAT may not be running When the TAT associated with an sTAGexpires: a) SRS transmissions may be stopped on the correspondingSCells, b) SRS RRC configuration may be released, c) CSI reportingconfiguration for corresponding SCells may be maintained, and/or d) theMAC in the UE may flush the uplink HARQ buffers of the correspondingSCells.

An eNB may initiate an RA procedure via a PDCCH order for an activatedSCell. This PDCCH order may be sent on a scheduling cell of this SCell.When cross carrier scheduling is configured for a cell, the schedulingcell may be different than the cell that is employed for preambletransmission, and the PDCCH order may include an SCell index. At least anon-contention based RA procedure may be supported for SCell(s) assignedto sTAG(s).

FIG. 9 is an example message flow in a random access process in asecondary TAG as per an aspect of an embodiment of the presentinvention. An eNB transmits an activation command 600 to activate anSCell. A preamble 602 (Msg1) may be sent by a UE in response to a PDCCHorder 601 on an SCell belonging to an sTAG. In an example embodiment,preamble transmission for SCells may be controlled by the network usingPDCCH format 1A. Msg2 message 603 (RAR: random access response) inresponse to the preamble transmission on the SCell may be addressed toRA-RNTI in a PCell common search space (CSS). Uplink packets 604 may betransmitted on the SCell in which the preamble was transmitted.

According to some of the various aspects of embodiments, initial timingalignment may be achieved through a random access procedure. This mayinvolve a UE transmitting a random access preamble and an eNB respondingwith an initial TA command NTA (amount of timing advance) within arandom access response window. The start of the random access preamblemay be aligned with the start of a corresponding uplink subframe at theUE assuming NTA=0. The eNB may estimate the uplink timing from therandom access preamble transmitted by the UE. The TA command may bederived by the eNB based on the estimation of the difference between thedesired UL timing and the actual UL timing. The UE may determine theinitial uplink transmission timing relative to the correspondingdownlink of the sTAG on which the preamble is transmitted.

The mapping of a serving cell to a TAG may be configured by a servingeNB with RRC signaling. The mechanism for TAG configuration andreconfiguration may be based on RRC signaling. According to some of thevarious aspects of embodiments, when an eNB performs an SCell additionconfiguration, the related TAG configuration may be configured for theSCell. In an example embodiment, an eNB may modify the TAG configurationof an SCell by removing (releasing) the SCell and adding(configuring) anew SCell (with the same physical cell ID and frequency) with an updatedTAG ID. The new SCell with the updated TAG ID may initially be inactivesubsequent to being assigned the updated TAG ID. The eNB may activatethe updated new SCell and start scheduling packets on the activatedSCell. In an example implementation, it may not be possible to changethe TAG associated with an SCell, but rather, the SCell may need to beremoved and a new SCell may need to be added with another TAG. Forexample, if there is a need to move an SCell from an sTAG to a pTAG, atleast one RRC message, for example, at least one RRC reconfigurationmessage, may be send to the UE to reconfigure TAG configurations byreleasing the SCell and then configuring the SCell as a part of the pTAG(when an SCell is added/configured without a TAG index, the SCell may beexplicitly assigned to the pTAG). The PCell may not change its TA groupand may always be a member of the pTAG.

The purpose of an RRC connection reconfiguration procedure may be tomodify an RRC connection, (e.g. to establish, modify and/or release RBs,to perform handover, to setup, modify, and/or release measurements, toadd, modify, and/or release SCells). If the received RRC ConnectionReconfiguration message includes the sCellToReleaseList, the UE mayperform an SCell release. If the received RRC Connection Reconfigurationmessage includes the sCellToAddModList, the UE may perform SCelladditions or modification.

In LTE Release-10 and Release-11 CA, a PUCCH is only transmitted on thePCell (PSCell) to an eNB. In LTE-Release 12 and earlier, a UE maytransmit PUCCH information on one cell (PCell or PSCell) to a given eNB.

As the number of CA capable UEs and also the number of aggregatedcarriers increase, the number of PUCCHs and also the PUCCH payload sizemay increase. Accommodating the PUCCH transmissions on the PCell maylead to a high PUCCH load on the PCell. A PUCCH on an SCell may beintroduced to offload the PUCCH resource from the PCell. More than onePUCCH may be configured for example, a PUCCH on a PCell and anotherPUCCH on an SCell. FIG. 10 is an example grouping of cells into PUCCHgroups as per an aspect of an embodiment of the present invention. Inthe example embodiments, one, two or more cells may be configured withPUCCH resources for transmitting CSI/ACK/NACK to a base station. Cellsmay be grouped into multiple PUCCH groups, and one or more cell within agroup may be configured with a PUCCH. In an example configuration, oneSCell may belong to one PUCCH group. SCells with a configured PUCCHtransmitted to a base station may be called a PUCCH SCell, and a cellgroup with a common PUCCH resource transmitted to the same base stationmay be called a PUCCH group.

In Release-12, a PUCCH can be configured on a PCell and/or a PSCell, butcannot be configured on other SCells. In an example embodiment, a UE maytransmit a message indicating that the UE supports PUCCH configurationon a PCell and SCell. Such an indication may be separate from anindication of of dual connectivity support by the UE. In an exampleembodiment, a UE may support both DC and PUCCH groups. In an exampleembodiment, either DC or PUCCH groups may be configured, but not both.In another example embodiment, more complicated configurationscomprising both DC and PUCCH groups may be supported.

When a UE is capable of configuring PUCCH groups, and if a UE indicatesthat it supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission capability, itmay imply that the UE supports simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCH transmission onboth PCell and SCell. When multiple PUCCH groups are configured, a PUCCHmay be configured or not configured with simultaneous PUCCH/PUSCHtransmission.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH transmission to a base station on twoserving cells may be realized as shown in FIG. 10 . A first group ofcells may employ a PUCCH on the PCell and may be called PUCCH group 1 ora primary PUCCH group. A second group of cells may employ a PUCCH on anSCell and may be called PUCCH group 2 or a secondary PUCCH group. One,two or more PUCCH groups may be configured. In an example, cells may begrouped into two PUCCH groups, and each PUCCH group may include a cellwith PUCCH resources. A PCell may provide PUCCH resources for theprimary PUCCH group and an SCell in the secondary PUCCH group mayprovide PUCCH resources for the cells in the secondary PUCCH group. Inan example embodiment, no cross-carrier scheduling between cells indifferent PUCCH groups may be configured. When cross-carrier schedulingbetween cells in different PUCCH groups is not configured, ACK/NACK onPHICH channel may be limited within a PUCCH group. Both downlink anduplink scheduling activity may be separate between cells belonging todifferent PUCCH groups.

A PUCCH on an SCell may carry HARQ-ACK and CSI information. A PCell maybe configured with PUCCH resources. In an example embodiment, RRCparameters for an SCell PUCCH Power Control for a PUCCH on an SCell maybe different from those of a PCell PUCCH. A Transmit Power Controlcommand for a PUCCH on an SCell may be transmitted in DCI(s) on theSCell carrying the PUCCH.

UE procedures on a PUCCH transmission may be different and/orindependent between PUCCH groups. For example, determination of DLHARQ-ACK timing, PUCCH resource determination for HARQ-ACK and/or CSI,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+CSI on a PUCCH,Higher-layer configuration of simultaneous HARQ-ACK+SRS in one subframemay be configured differently for a PUCCH PCell and a PUCCH SCell.

A PUCCH group may be a group of serving cells configured by a RRC anduse the same serving cell in the group for transmission of a PUCCH. APrimary PUCCH group may be a PUCCH group containing a PCell. A secondaryPUCCH group may be a PUCCH cell group not containing the PCell. In anexample embodiment, an SCell may belong to one PUCCH group. When oneSCell belongs to a PUCCH group, ACK/NACK or CSI for that SCell may betransmitted over the PUCCH in that PUCCH group (over PUCCH SCell orPUCCH PCell). A PUCCH on an SCell may reduce the PUCCH load on thePCell. A PUCCH SCell may be employed for UCI transmission of SCells inthe corresponding PUCCH group.

In an example embodiment, a flexible PUCCH configuration in whichcontrol signalling is sent on one, two or more PUCCHs may be possible.Beside the PCell, it may be possible to configure a selected number ofSCells for PUCCH transmission (herein called PUCCH SCells). Controlsignalling information conveyed in a certain PUCCH SCell may be relatedto a set of SCells in a corresponding PUCCH group that are configured bythe network via RRC signalling.

PUCCH control signalling carried by a PUCCH channel may be distributedbetween a PCell and SCells for off-loading or robustness purposes. Byenabling a PUCCH in an SCell, it may be possible to distribute theoverall CSI reports for a given UE between a PCell and a selected numberof SCells (e.g. PUCCH SCells), thereby limiting PUCCH CSI resourceconsumption by a given UE on a certain cell. It may be possible to mapCSI reports for a certain SCell to a selected PUCCH SCell. An SCell maybe assigned a certain periodicity and time-offset for transmission ofcontrol information. Periodic CSI for a serving cell may be mapped on aPUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH-SCell) via RRC signalling. Thepossibility of distributing CSI reports, HARQ feedbacks, and/orScheduling Requests across PUCCH SCells may provide flexibility andcapacity improvements. HARQ feedback for a serving cell may be mapped ona PUCCH (on the PCell or on a PUCCH SCell) via RRC signalling.

In example embodiments, PUCCH transmission may be configured on a PCell,as well as one SCell in CA. An SCell PUCCH may be realized using theconcept of PUCCH groups, where aggregated cells are grouped into two ormore PUCCH groups. One cell from a PUCCH group may be configured tocarry a PUCCH. More than 5 carriers may be configured. In the exampleembodiments, up to n carriers may be aggregated. For example, n may be16, 32, or 64. Some CCs may have non-backward compatible configurationssupporting only advanced UEs (e.g. support licensed assisted accessSCells). In an example embodiment, one SCell PUCCH (e.g. two PUCCHgroups) may be supported. In another example embodiment, a PUCCH groupconcept with multiple (more than one) SCells carrying PUCCH may beemployed (e.g., there can be more than two PUCCH groups).

In an example embodiment, a given PUCCH group may not comprise servingcells of both MCG and SCG. One of the PUCCHs may be configured on thePCell. In an example embodiment, PUCCH mapping of serving cells may beconfigured by RRC messages. In an example embodiment, a maximum value ofan SCellIndex and a ServCellIndex may be 31 (ranging from 0 to 31). Inan example, a maximum value of stag-Id may be 3. The CIF for a scheduledcell may be configured explicitly. A PUCCH SCell may be configured bygiving a PUCCH configuration for an SCell. A HARQ feedback and CSIreport of a PUCCH SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of that PUCCH SCell.The HARQ feedback and CSI report of a SCell may sent on a PUCCH of aPCell if no PUCCH SCell is signalled for that SCell. The HARQ feedbackand CSI report of an SCell may be sent on the PUCCH of one PUCCH SCell;hence they may not be sent on the PUCCH of different PUCCH SCell. The UEmay report a Type 2 PH for serving cells configured with a PUCCH. In anexample embodiment, a MAC activation/deactivation may be supported for aPUCCH SCell. An eNB may manage the activation/deactivation status forSCells. A newly added PUCCH SCell may be initially deactivated.

In an example embodiment, independent configuration of PUCCH groups andTAGs may be supported. FIG. 11 and FIG. 12 show example configurationsof TAGs and PUCCH groups. For example, one TAG may contain multipleserving cells with a PUCCH. For example, each TAG may only comprisecells of one PUCCH group. For example, a TAG may comprise the servingcells (without a PUCCH) which belong to different PUCCH groups.

There may not be a one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups. Forexample, in a configuration, a PUCCH SCell may belong to primary TAG. Inan example implementation, the serving cells of one PUCCH group may bein different TAGs and serving cells of one TAG may be in different PUCCHgroups. Configuration of PUCCH groups and TAGs may be left to eNBimplementation. In another example implementation, restriction(s) on theconfiguration of a PUCCH cell may be specified. For example, in anexample embodiment, cells in a given PUCCH group may belong to the sameTAG. In an example, an sTAG may only comprise cells of one PUCCH group.I n an example, one-to-one mapping between TAGs and PUCCH groups may beimplemented. In implementation, cell configurations may be limited tosome of the examples. In other implementations, some or all the belowconfigurations may be allowed.

In an example embodiment, for an SCell in a pTAG, the timing referencemay be a PCell. For an SCell in an sTAG, the timing reference may be anyactivated SCell in the sTAG. For an SCell (configured with PUCCH or not)in a pTAG, a pathloss reference may be configured to be a PCell or anSIB-2 linked SCell. For an SCell in a sTAG, the pathloss reference maybe the SIB-2 linked SCell. When a TAT associated with a pTAG is expired,the TAT associated with sTAGs may be considered as expired. When a TATof an sTAG containing PUCCH SCell expires, the MAC may indicate to anRRC to release PUCCH resource for the PUCCH group. When the TAT of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, the uplink transmission(PUSCH) for SCells in the secondary PUCCH group not belonging to thesTAG including the PUCCH SCell may not be impacted. The TAT expiry of ansTAG containing a PUCCH SCell may not trigger TAT expiry of other TAGsto which other SCells in the same PUCCH group belong. When the TATassociated with sTAG not containing a PUCCH SCell is not running, thewireless device may stop the uplink transmission for the SCell in thesTAG and may not impact other TAGs.

In an example embodiment, a MAC entity may have a configurable timertimeAlignmentTimer per TAG. The timeAlignmentTimer may be used tocontrol how long the MAC entity considers the Serving Cells belonging tothe associated TAG to be uplink time aligned. The MAC entity may, when aTiming Advance Command MAC control element is received, apply the TimingAdvance Command for the indicated TAG; start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with the indicated TAG. The MAC entitymay, when a Timing Advance Command is received in a Random AccessResponse message for a serving cell belonging to a TAG and/or if theRandom Access Preamble was not selected by the MAC entity, apply theTiming Advance Command for this TAG and start or restart thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG. Otherwise, if thetimeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAG is not running, the TimingAdvance Command for this TAG may be applied and the timeAlignmentTimerassociated with this TAG started. When the contention resolution isconsidered not successful, a timeAlignmentTimer associated with this TAGmay be stopped. Otherwise, the MAC entity may ignore the received TimingAdvance Command.

Example embodiments of the invention may enable operation of multiplePUCCH groups. Other example embodiments may comprise a non-transitorytangible computer readable media comprising instructions executable byone or more processors to cause operation of PUCCH groups. Yet otherexample embodiments may comprise an article of manufacture thatcomprises a non-transitory tangible computer readable machine-accessiblemedium having instructions encoded thereon for enabling programmablehardware to cause a device (e.g. wireless communicator, UE, basestation, etc.) to enable operation of PUCCH groups. The device mayinclude processors, memory, interfaces, and/or the like. Other exampleembodiments may comprise communication networks comprising devices suchas base stations, wireless devices (or user equipment: UE), servers,switches, antennas, and/or the like. In an example embodiment one ormore TAGs may be configured along with PUCCH group configuration.

FIG. 13 is an example MAC PDU as per an aspect of an embodiment of thepresent invention. In an example embodiment, a MAC PDU may comprise of aMAC header, zero or more MAC Service Data Units (MAC SDU), zero or moreMAC control elements, and optionally padding. The MAC header and the MACSDUs may be of variable sizes. A MAC PDU header may comprise one or moreMAC PDU subheaders. A subheader may correspond to either a MAC SDU, aMAC control element or padding. A MAC PDU subheader may comprise headerfields R, F2, E, LCID, F, and/or L. The last subheader in the MAC PDUand subheaders for fixed sized MAC control elements may comprise thefour header fields R, F2, E, and/or LCID. A MAC PDU subheadercorresponding to padding may comprise the four header fields R, F2, E,and/or LCID.

In an example embodiment, LCID or Logical Channel ID field may identifythe logical channel instance of the corresponding MAC SDU or the type ofthe corresponding MAC control element or padding. There may be one LCIDfield for a MAC SDU, MAC control element or padding included in the MACPDU. In addition to that, one or two additional LCID fields may beincluded in the MAC PDU when single-byte or two-byte padding is requiredbut cannot be achieved by padding at the end of the MAC PDU. The LCIDfield size may be, e.g. 5 bits. L or the Length field may indicate thelength of the corresponding MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC controlelement in bytes. There may be one L field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements. The size of the L field may be indicated by the Ffield and F2 field. The F or the Format field may indicate the size ofthe Length field. There may be one F field per MAC PDU subheader exceptfor the last subheader and subheaders corresponding to fixed-sized MACcontrol elements and expect for when F2 is set to 1. The size of the Ffield may be 1 bit. In an example, if the F field is included, and/or ifthe size of the MAC SDU or variable-sized MAC control element is lessthan 128 bytes, the value of the F field is set to 0, otherwise it isset to 1. The F2 or the Format2 field may indicate the size of theLength field. There may be one F2 field per MAC PDU subheader. The sizeof the F2 field may be 1 bit. In an example, if the size of the MAC SDUor variable-sized MAC control element is larger than 32767 bytes and ifthe corresponding subheader is not the last subheader, the value of theF2 field may be set to 1, otherwise it is set to 0. The E or theExtension field may be a flag indicating if more fields are present inthe MAC header or not. The E field may be set to “1” to indicate anotherset of at least R/F2/E/LCID fields. The E field may be set to “0” toindicate that either a MAC SDU, a MAC control element or padding startsat the next byte. R or reserved bit, set to “0”.

MAC PDU subheaders may have the same order as the corresponding MACSDUs, MAC control elements and padding. MAC control elements may beplaced before any MAC SDU. Padding may occur at the end of the MAC PDU,except when single-byte or two-byte padding is required. Padding mayhave any value and the MAC entity may ignore it. When padding isperformed at the end of the MAC PDU, zero or more padding bytes may beallowed. When single-byte or two-byte padding is required, one or twoMAC PDU subheaders corresponding to padding may be placed at thebeginning of the MAC PDU before any other MAC PDU subheader. In anexample, a maximum of one MAC PDU may be transmitted per TB per MACentity, a maximum of one MCH MAC PDU can be transmitted per TTI.

At least one RRC message may provide configuration parameters for atleast one cell and configuration parameters for PUCCH groups. Theinformation elements in one or more RRC messages may provide mappingbetween configured cells and PUCCH SCells. Cells may be grouped into aplurality of cell groups and a cell may be assigned to one of theconfigured PUCCH groups. There may be a one-to-one relationship betweenPUCCH groups and cells with configured PUCCH resources. At least one RRCmessage may provide mapping between an SCell and a PUCCH group, andPUCCH configuration on PUCCH SCell.

System information (common parameters) for an SCell may be carried in aRadioResourceConfigCommonSCell in a dedicated RRC message. Some of thePUCCH related information may be included in common information of anSCell (e.g. in the RadioResourceConfigCommonSCell). Dedicatedconfiguration parameters of SCell and PUCCH resources may be configuredby dedicated RRC signaling using, for example,RadioResourceConfigDedicatedSCell.

The IE PUCCH-ConfigCommon and IE PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be used tospecify the common and the UE specific PUCCH configuration respectively.

In an example, PUCCH-ConfigCommon may include: deltaPUCCH-Shift:ENUMERATED {ds1, ds2, ds3}; nRB-CQI: INTEGER (0.98); nCS-AN: INTEGER(0.7); and/or n1PUCCH-AN: INTEGER (0.2047). The parameterdeltaPUCCH-Shift (Δ_(shift) ^(PUCCH)), nRB-CQI (N_(RB) ⁽²⁾), nCS-An(N_(cs) ⁽¹⁾), and n1PUCCH-AN (N_(PUCCH) ⁽¹⁾) may be physical layerparameters of PUCCH.

PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may be employed. PUCCH-ConfigDedicated mayinclude: ackNackRepetition CHOICE{release: NULL, setup: SEQUENCE{repetitionFactor: ENUMERATED {n2, n4, n6, spare1}, n1PUCCH-AN-Rep:INTEGER (0.2047)}}, tdd-AckNackFeedbackMode: ENUMERATED {bundling,multiplexing} OPTIONAL}. ackNackRepetitionj parameter indicates whetherACK/NACK repetition is configured. n2 corresponds to repetition factor2, n4 to 4 for repetitionFactor parameter (N_(ANRep)). n1PUCCH-AN-Repparameter may be n_(PUCCH,ANRep) ^((1,p)) for antenna port P0 and forantenna port P1. dd-AckNackFeedbackMode parameter may indicate one ofthe TDD ACK/NACK feedback modes used. The value bundling may correspondto use of ACK/NACK bundling whereas, the value multiplexing maycorrespond to ACK/NACK multiplexing. The same value may apply to bothACK/NACK feedback modes on PUCCH as well as on PUSCH.

The parameter PUCCH-ConfigDedicated may include simultaneous PUCCH-PUSCHparameter indicating whether simultaneous PUCCH and PUSCH transmissionsis configured. An E-UTRAN may configure this field for the PCell whenthe nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported in the band onwhich PCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure this field for thePSCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info is set to supported inthe band on which PSCell is configured. The E-UTRAN may configure thisfield for the PUCCH SCell when the nonContiguousUL-RA-WithinCC-Info isset to supported in the band on which PUCCH SCell is configured.

A UE may transmit radio capabilities to an eNB to indicate whether UEsupport the configuration of PUCCH groups. The simultaneous PUCCH-PUSCHin the UE capability message may be applied to both a PCell and anSCell. Simultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH may be configured separately (usingseparate IEs) for a PCell and a PUCCH SCell. For example, a PCell and aPUCCH SCell may have different or the same configurations related tosimultaneous PUCCH+PUSCH.

The eNB may select the PUCCH SCell among current SCells or candidateSCells considering cell loading, carrier quality (e.g. using measurementreports), carrier configuration, and/or other parameters. From afunctionality perspective, a PUCCH Cell group management procedure mayinclude a PUCCH Cell group addition, a PUCCH cell group release, a PUCCHcell group change and/or a PUCCH cell group reconfiguration. The PUCCHcell group addition procedure may be used to add a secondary PUCCH cellgroup (e.g., to add PUCCH SCell and one or more SCells in the secondaryPUCCH cell group). In an example embodiment, cells may be released andadded employing one or more RRC messages. In another example embodiment,cells may be released employing a first RRC message and then addedemploying a second RRC messages.

SCells including PUCCH SCell may be in a deactivated state when they areconfigured. A PUCCH SCell may be activated after an RRC configurationprocedure by an activation MAC CE. An eNB may transmit a MAC CEactivation command to a UE. The UE may activate an SCell in response toreceiving the MAC CE activation command.

In example embodiments, a timer is running once it is started, until itis stopped or until it expires; otherwise it may not be running A timercan be started if it is not running or restarted if it is running Forexample, a timer may be started or restarted from its initial value.

In the example embodiments, up to n carriers may be aggregated. Forexample, n may be 16, 32, or 64. The schemes for self-scheduling andcross-carrier scheduling may be supported. The corresponding UL/DLcontrol signaling is needed to be enhanced to support aggregation of alarge number of carriers. Example embodiments for up to 32 carriers arepresented. Example embodiments may be extended to support higher orlower number of carriers. For self-carrier scheduling, DL controlsignaling for Rel-10/11/12 carrier aggregation (CA) may be reused tosupport scheduling up to 32 component carriers.

LTE-A R-12 supports configuration of up to 5 serving cells. A cell isidentified by a serving cell index (identifier). Cross-carrierscheduling in Rel-12 is supported by a carrier indication field (CIF) of3 bits in DL/UL DCI formats to indicate a serving cell with DL/UL datatransmission among 5 cells. The DCI transmitted in a scheduling cellincludes a CIF field. The CIF field indicates the serving cell index(identifier) of the scheduled cell. The CIF in the DCI employs 3 bits.The CIF has a length of 3 bits and is a number smaller than 8. Servingcell index (identifier) in R-12 employs 3 bits and is a number smallerthan 8. In R-12, each of the CIF and Serving cell index (identifier) isencoded employing 3 bits.

In R-13 and beyond, up to 32 cells may be supported. Identifying aserving cell when up to 32 cells can be configured may require at least5 bits. In an example embodiment, a serving cell identifier (index) mayemploy five bits and be a number smaller than 32. In an exampleembodiment, a serving cell identifier may employ five bits, e.g. 2 bitsof group ID, and 3 bits of cell ID. Various example encoding mechanismsmay be employed to identify a serving cell among 32 serving cells. Aserving cell among up to 32 serving cells may be identified employing aserving cell identifier of at least five bits.

In order to support cross-carrier scheduling and PUCCH transmission forCA with up to 32 serving cells, 2 additional bits can be added to theCIF for UE-specific DL/UL DCI formats to support full flexibility forcross-carrier scheduling. The capacity of PUCCH can be increased tosupport up to 32 carriers. An increase of the CIF size from 3 bits to 5bits may introduce an increase in the number of DL/UL DCI format size(length in bits) that a UE needs to monitor. If the CIF is extended to 5bits in the DCI signal, then up to 32 carriers may be scheduled by onescheduling carrier. An eNB may flexibly configure the schedulingrelationship between the component carriers. This approach may introducemore cost on DCI overhead. The new CIF size of five bits may increasethe DCI size to be supported by a UE and may result in more DCI sizepadding. There is a need to maintain the DCI and/or CIF size, when thenumber of configured cells increases, e.g. up to 32 cells.

In an example embodiment, the PUCCH capacity of the primary cell may beincreased to support up to 32 carriers. This may be technicallypossible, but may reduce available resources for uplink datatransmission on the primary carrier. There is a need to provideadditional PUCCH capacity on other serving cells in addition to thePCell when a large number of cells are configured.

In Rel-10, cross carrier scheduling is supported for UE specific searchspace for SCells. Since maximum of 5 carriers may be configured for oneUE, maximum of 4 carriers may be cross scheduled on other than thescheduling carrier like PCell. The search space for a cross scheduledcarrier may be determined by the serving cell index. With the increaseof number of carriers, 3 bits CIF field in the DCI may not be enough toindicate the carrier index of cross scheduled carriers. 3 OFDM symbolsfor PDCCH region or ePDCCH resources may not be enough to cross-carrierschedule so many carriers. Example embodiments of the invention mayprovide solutions to these issues.

In case the number of possible aggregated cells is increased, fullflexibility in cross-CC scheduling among a maximum of 32 cells may notbe needed. An example embodiment may maintain the Rel-12 CIF size andlimit cross-carrier scheduling from a serving cell to another servingcell in a group of cells. This is a cross-carrier scheduling group withat most 8 cells. Taking into account the number of both scheduled andscheduling cells, and the number of cells in a cell group, an eNB maydivide cells into cross-carrier scheduling groups (or subgroups) andthen may configure cross-carrier scheduling between cells within across-carrier scheduling group (or subgroup).

In example embodiments, a PUCCH cell grouping may be introduced toresolve some issues related limited PUCCH capacity on PCell. In exampleembodiments, a cross-carrier scheduling cell grouping may be introducedto resolve some of issues related CIF size and cross carrier scheduling.In an example implementation, PUCCH grouping may be perform withoutgrouping the cells into cross-carrier scheduling groups. In an exampleimplementation, cross-carrier scheduling grouping may be performedwithout grouping the cells into PUCCH groups. In an exampleimplementation, cells may be grouped in PUCCH groups, and cells in eachPUCCH group may be grouped into one or more cross-carrier schedulinggroups.

FIG. 14 shows an example grouping as per an aspect of an exampleembodiment. 21 cells are configured and grouped into two PUCCH groups.The primary PUCCH group comprises 12 cells. The secondary PUCCH groupcomprises 9 cells. The cells in the primary PUCCH group are grouped intotwo cross-carrier scheduling groups. Cross-carrier scheduling group Acomprises 5 cells with CIF 0 to 5, and cross-carrier scheduling group Bcomprises 7 cells with CIF 0 to 6. The same CIF may be reused indifferent cross-carrier scheduling groups. A cross-carrier schedulinggroup including only one cell may not require a CIF (a cell may scheduleitself). In the example FIG. 14 , cross-carrier scheduling group Aincludes 5 cells including the PCell. The PCell may schedule other cellsin the group and itself (PCell). DCI transmitted on PCell and schedulingPCell may not include a CIF field. In an example, a DCI transmitted on aserving cell to schedule one or more TBs on the same serving cell maynot include a CIF. In example FIG. 14 , the secondary PUCCH groupcomprises two cross-carrier scheduling groups. Cross carrier schedulingmay or may not be configured for cells in a PUCCH cell group. As shownin FIG. 14 , a cross-carrier group cannot include cells from bothprimary PUCCH group and secondary PUCCH group.

Cells are grouped into PUCCH groups according to some exampleembodiments. In an example embodiment, cells may be grouped in two PUCCHgroups. Cells in a PUCCH group may be grouped into cross-carrierscheduling subgroups. A PUCCH group may include one cell with PUCCHresources. The primary PUCCH group includes PCell with PUCCH resources,and the secondary PUCCH group may include a secondary PUCCH SCell.Uplink control information related to cells in a PUCCH group istransmitted on the associated PUCCH cell in the group.

In an example embodiment, a cross-carrier scheduling group (subgroup)includes cells within a single PUCCH group. Cross-carrier scheduling maybe configured within a subgroup. Subgroups may not include cells fromtwo different PUCCH groups as shown FIG. 14 . Cross-carrier schedulingwithin a subgroup may be supported by a CIF of 3 bits in DL/UL DCIformats to indicate a serving cell with DL/UL data transmission among upto 8 cells. A cell in a cross-carrier scheduling subgroup may beidentified by a number from 0 to 7 within that subgroup. The same CIFmay be reused in different cross-carrier scheduling subgroups. In thisspecification, a group of one or more cells within another group may becalled a group or a subgroup of one or more cells. The term group orsubgroup may be used inter-changeably and refer to a group of one ormore cells.

An example embodiment may provide grouping mechanisms for downlink crosscarrier scheduling as well as uplink control channel transmission. A setof constraints may be introduced in PUCCH transmission, cross carrierscheduling and subgrouping cells within the same PUCCH group. Theseconstraints may provide a mechanism for PUCCH information transmissionas well as cross carrier scheduling configuration. Cross carrierscheduling is limited within a cross-carrier scheduling group (subgroup)and a 3 bit CFI may be employed for cross carrier scheduling. A PUCCHgroup may include one PUCCH cell for uplink PUCCH informationtransmission for cells within the PUCCH group. A cross-carrierscheduling group may include a cell that carries scheduling informationfor all the cells within the cross-carrier scheduling group.

In an example embodiment, PUCCH resources of the PUCCH cell in a PUCCHgroup may comprise resources for UCI transmission of different sets ofcells. PUCCH resources may be divided in time, frequency (ResourceBlocks), and/or codes and a set of cells may share the assigned PUCCHresources. In an example embodiment, PUCCH sets of resources may beallocated to different CSI processes of different cells.

In an example embodiment, cells may be grouped in PUCCH groups. A PUCCHgroup may include one cell with PUCCH resources. The primary PUCCH groupmay include PCell with PUCCH resources, and a secondary PUCCH group mayinclude a secondary PUCCH SCell. Control information related to cells ina PUCCH group is transmitted on the associated PUCCH cell in the group.In an example embodiment, cross carrier scheduling may be permitted onlywithin a PUCCH group. Cross-carrier scheduling within a PUCCH group maybe supported by a CIF of 3 bits in DL/UL DCI formats to indicate aserving cell with DL/UL data transmission among up to 8 cells. A cell ina PUCCH group may be identified by a number from 0 to 7 within thatsubgroup.

The cells are configured and assigned to different cell groups via asemi-static manner using RRC control messages. In an example embodiment,the size of CIF may be 3 bits. This may restrict the maximum number ofcarriers scheduled by one carrier. Up to 8 PDSCH/PUSCH cells may belinked to one (e)PDCCH cell. In an example embodiment, the cells may bedivided into different groups. In an example embodiment, the maximumcell number of a cross-carrier scheduling group (or subgroup) may belimited to 8. Cross-carrier scheduling may be permitted within across-carrier scheduling group (or subgroup).

With this grouping, a pair of scheduling cell and scheduled cell may bewithin the same cross-carrier scheduling group (or subgroup). Groups maybe semi-statically configured and the mapping relationship of one ormore cells to a scheduling cell may be signaled via higher layersignaling (via RRC control messages). The cross-carrier scheduling mayhappen within a cross-carrier scheduling group. A 3-bit CIF field may beemployed to support cross-CC scheduling.

In an example embodiment, the group ID of a cross-carrier schedulinggroup is the same as the scheduling cell index (identifier). In anexample embodiment, signaling overhead for DCI control signaling may bereduced. Cell groups for cross-carrier scheduling may be configured byhigher layer signaling. A cell in a cross-carrier scheduling group maybe configured as a scheduling cell with (E)PDCCH. The scheduling cellmay carry scheduling information (DCI) for itself (the scheduling cell)and one or more other cells in the cross-carrier scheduling group.

In an example embodiment, the eNB may transmit to a UE one or more RRCmessages comprising configuration parameters of a plurality of cells.The one or more messages may comprise information about configuration ofa plurality of PUCCH groups. The one or more messages may compriseinformation about cross-carrier scheduling groups. In an exampleembodiment, the configuration parameters for a cell may include a crosscarrier scheduling configuration information element (IE). Theconfiguration parameters (e.g. the cross-carrier schedulingconfiguration IE) of a cell may comprise: a cell identifier (index) ofthe scheduling cell, and a CIF identifying the scheduled cell (thecell). The cell identifier may employ 5 bits (have a length of 5 bits)and the CIF may employ 3 bits (have a length of 3 bits). The cellidentifier may be a number smaller than 32, and the CIF may be a numberless than 8. The configuration parameters may indicate that thescheduling cell is employed for cross carrier scheduling of thescheduled cell (e.g. the cell). The wireless device may receive a DCI ona control channel ((e)PDCCH) of the scheduling cell for at least onepacket transmitted/received on the scheduled cell. The DCI may comprisethe CIF for the scheduled cell. The wireless device may transmit/receiveat least one packet on the scheduled cell on radio resources identifiedby the DCI.

In an example embodiment, the cross carrier scheduling configuration IEof a cell may include one or more of the following parameters: aparameter indicating whether cross carrier scheduling is configured forthe cell, the cell identifier (index) of the scheduling cell, the CIFidentifying the cell, and/or a starting OFDM symbol number of thephysical downlink shared channel of the cell. The CIF field indicatesthe CIF value used in the scheduling cell to indicate the cell. If theparameter indicates that cross carrier scheduling is not configured forthe cell, the UE may decode the (e)PDCCH of the cell to decode DCI forthe cell. The cell identifier (index) of the scheduling cell mayindicate which cell signals the downlink allocations and uplink grantsfor the SCell.

FIG. 15 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A wireless device may receive at least onemessage from a base station at 1510. The message(s) may compriseconfiguration parameters of a first cell in a plurality of cells. Theplurality of cells may be grouped into one or more cross-carrierscheduling groups. The cross-carrier scheduling groups may comprise afirst cross-carrier scheduling group. The first cross-carrier schedulinggroup may comprise the first cell and a second cell. Each of the firstcell and the second cell may be identified by a respective cellidentifier employing a first number of bits. The configurationparameters may indicate that the second cell is employed for crosscarrier scheduling of the first cell. The configuration parameters maycomprise a cell identifier and a first cell indicator field. The firstcell indicator field may employ a second number of bits. The secondnumber may be smaller than the first number. According to an embodiment,the configuration parameters may comprise a starting symbol of adownlink shared channel in a plurality of subframes. The method of claim1, wherein the first cell in the first cross-carrier scheduling groupand a third cell in a second cross-carrier scheduling group are assignedthe same carrier indicator field.

At 1520, the wireless device may receive downlink control information ona control channel of the second cell for a packet transmitted on thefirst cell. The downlink control information may comprise the first cellindicator field. The first cell indicator field may identify the firstcell.

At 1530, the wireless device may receive the packet on the first cell onradio resources identified by the downlink control information.

According to an embodiment, the cell identifier may correspond to thesecond cell. According to an embodiment, the cell identifier may employ,for example, five bits. According to an embodiment, the first cellindicator field may employ, for example, three bits. According to anembodiment, the cell identifier may comprise one or more parameterscomprising: a subgroup index and/or a cell index.

According to an embodiment, the plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. Theplurality of PUCCH groups may comprise a primary PUCCH group and/or asecondary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH group may comprise a primarycell with a primary PUCCH transmitted to a base station. The secondaryPUCCH group may comprise a PUCCH secondary cell with a secondary PUCCHtransmitted to the base station. According to an embodiment, eachcross-carrier scheduling group in the one or more cross-carrierscheduling groups may comprise a second plurality of cells that may bepart of the same PUCCH group.

According to an embodiment, the wireless device may further comprise thesecond cell providing scheduling information for one or more cells, eachof the one or more cells identified by a cell indicator field within thefirst cross-carrier scheduling group. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising the second cell providing scheduling information for one ormore cells, each of the one or more cells identified by a correspondingcell indicator field within the first cross-carrier scheduling group.

FIG. 16 is an example flow diagram as per an aspect of an embodiment ofthe present invention. A base station may transmit at least one messageto a wireless device at 1610. The message(s) may comprise configurationparameters of a first cell in a plurality of cells. The plurality ofcells may be grouped into one or more cross-carrier scheduling groups.The cross-carrier scheduling group(s) may comprise a first cross-carrierscheduling group. The first cross-carrier scheduling group may comprisethe first cell and a second cell. Each of the first cell and the secondcell may be identified by a respective cell identifier employing a firstnumber of bits. The configuration parameters may indicate that thesecond cell is employed for cross carrier scheduling of the first cell.The configuration parameters may comprise a cell identifier and a firstcell indicator field. The first cell indicator field may employ a secondnumber of bits. The second number may be smaller than the first number.

According to an embodiment, the cell identifier may correspond to thesecond cell. According to an embodiment, the cell identifier may employfive bits. According to an embodiment, the first cell indicator fieldmay employ three bits. According to an embodiment, the cell identifiermay comprise one or more parameters. The parameter(s) may comprise asubgroup index. The parameter(s) may comprise a cell index.

At 1620, the base station may transmit downlink control information on acontrol channel of the second cell for a packet transmitted on the firstcell. The downlink control information may comprise the first cellindicator field. The first cell indicator field may identify the firstcell. At 1620, the base station may transmit the packet on the firstcell on radio resources identified by the downlink control information.According to an embodiment, the second cell may provide schedulinginformation for one or more cells. Each of the one or more cells may beidentified by a corresponding cell indicator field within the firstcross-carrier scheduling group. According to an embodiment, the secondcell may provide scheduling information for one or more cells. Each ofthe one or more cells may be identified by a unique cell indicator fieldwithin the first cross-carrier scheduling group. According to anembodiment, the configuration parameters may comprise a starting symbolof a downlink shared channel in a plurality of subframes. According toan embodiment, the first cell in the first cross-carrier schedulinggroup and a third cell in a second cross-carrier scheduling group may beassigned the same carrier indicator field.

According to an embodiment, the plurality of cells may be grouped into aplurality of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) groups. The PUCCHgroups may comprise a primary PUCCH group. The primary PUCCH group maycomprise a primary cell with a primary PUCCH received by the basestation. The PUCCH groups may comprise a secondary PUCCH group. Thesecondary PUCCH group may comprise a PUCCH secondary cell with asecondary PUCCH received by the base station. According to anembodiment, each cross-carrier scheduling group in the one or morecross-carrier scheduling groups may comprise a second plurality of cellsthat are part of the same PUCCH group.

When carrier aggregation (CA) is configured, a UE may be scheduled overmultiple serving cells simultaneously. One random access procedure maybe ongoing at any time. Cross-carrier scheduling with the CarrierIndicator Field (CIF) may allow the PDCCH of a serving cell to scheduleresources on another serving cell. The scheduling may compriserestrictions. For example, cross-carrier scheduling may not apply to aPCell (i.e. The PCell may be scheduled via its PDCCH). When the PDCCH ofan SCell is configured, cross-carrier scheduling may not apply to thisSCell (i.e. it may be scheduled via its PDCCH). When the PDCCH of anSCell is not configured, cross-carrier scheduling may apply and theSCell may be scheduled via the PDCCH of one other serving cell.

In carrier aggregation, the configured set of serving cells for a UE maycomprise of one PCell and one or more SCells. The IECrossCarrierSchedulingConfig may be employed to specify theconfiguration when the cross carrier scheduling is employed in a cell.

In this specification, “a” and “an” and similar phrases are to beinterpreted as “at least one” and “one or more.” In this specification,the term “may” is to be interpreted as “may, for example.” In otherwords, the term “may” is indicative that the phrase following the term“may” is an example of one of a multitude of suitable possibilities thatmay, or may not, be employed to one or more of the various embodiments.If A and B are sets and every element of A is also an element of B, A iscalled a subset of B. In this specification, only non-empty sets andsubsets are considered. For example, possible subsets of B={cell1,cell2} are: {cell1}, {cell2}, and {cell1, cell2}.

In this specification, parameters (Information elements: IEs) maycomprise one or more objects, and each of those objects may comprise oneor more other objects. For example, if parameter (IE) N comprisesparameter (IE) M, and parameter (IE) M comprises parameter (IE) K, andparameter (IE) K comprises parameter (information element) J, then, forexample, N comprises K, and N comprises J. In an example embodiment,when one or more messages comprise a plurality of parameters, it impliesthat a parameter in the plurality of parameters is in at least one ofthe one or more messages, but does not have to be in each of the one ormore messages.

Many of the elements described in the disclosed embodiments may beimplemented as modules. A module is defined here as an isolatableelement that performs a defined function and has a defined interface toother elements. The modules described in this disclosure may beimplemented in hardware, software in combination with hardware,firmware, wetware (i.e. hardware with a biological element) or acombination thereof, all of which are behaviorally equivalent. Forexample, modules may be implemented as a software routine written in acomputer language configured to be executed by a hardware machine (suchas C, C++, Fortran, Java, Basic, Matlab or the like) or amodeling/simulation program such as Simulink, Stateflow, GNU Octave, orLabVIEWMathScript. Additionally, it may be possible to implement modulesusing physical hardware that incorporates discrete or programmableanalog, digital and/or quantum hardware. Examples of programmablehardware comprise: computers, microcontrollers, microprocessors,application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs); field programmablegate arrays (FPGAs); and complex programmable logic devices (CPLDs).Computers, microcontrollers and microprocessors are programmed usinglanguages such as assembly, C, C++ or the like. FPGAs, ASICs and CPLDsare often programmed using hardware description languages (HDL) such asVHSIC hardware description language (VHDL) or Verilog that configureconnections between internal hardware modules with lesser functionalityon a programmable device. Finally, it needs to be emphasized that theabove mentioned technologies are often used in combination to achievethe result of a functional module.

The disclosure of this patent document incorporates material which issubject to copyright protection. The copyright owner has no objection tothe facsimile reproduction by anyone of the patent document or thepatent disclosure, as it appears in the Patent and Trademark Officepatent file or records, for the limited purposes required by law, butotherwise reserves all copyright rights whatsoever.

While various embodiments have been described above, it should beunderstood that they have been presented by way of example, and notlimitation. It will be apparent to persons skilled in the relevantart(s) that various changes in form and detail can be made thereinwithout departing from the spirit and scope. In fact, after reading theabove description, it will be apparent to one skilled in the relevantart(s) how to implement alternative embodiments. Thus, the presentembodiments should not be limited by any of the above describedexemplary embodiments. In particular, it should be noted that, forexample purposes, the above explanation has focused on the example(s)using FDD communication systems. However, one skilled in the art willrecognize that embodiments of the invention may also be implemented in asystem comprising one or more TDD cells (e.g. frame structure 2 and/orframe structure 3-licensed assisted access). The disclosed methods andsystems may be implemented in wireless or wireline systems. The featuresof various embodiments presented in this invention may be combined. Oneor many features (method or system) of one embodiment may be implementedin other embodiments. Only a limited number of example combinations areshown to indicate to one skilled in the art the possibility of featuresthat may be combined in various embodiments to create enhancedtransmission and reception systems and methods.

In addition, it should be understood that any figures which highlightthe functionality and advantages, are presented for example purposesonly. The disclosed architecture is sufficiently flexible andconfigurable, such that it may be utilized in ways other than thatshown. For example, the actions listed in any flowchart may bere-ordered or only optionally used in some embodiments.

Further, the purpose of the Abstract of the Disclosure is to enable theU.S. Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally, andespecially the scientists, engineers and practitioners in the art whoare not familiar with patent or legal terms or phraseology, to determinequickly from a cursory inspection the nature and essence of thetechnical disclosure of the application. The Abstract of the Disclosureis not intended to be limiting as to the scope in any way.

Finally, it is the applicant's intent that only claims that include theexpress language “means for” or “step for” be interpreted under 35U.S.C. 112, paragraph 6. Claims that do not expressly include the phrase“means for” or “step for” are not to be interpreted under 35 U.S.C. 112.

The invention claimed is:
 1. A wireless device configured to communicatevia at least a first cell and a second cell, the wireless devicecomprising: one or more processors; and memory storing instructionsthat, when executed by one or more processors, cause the wireless deviceto: receive configuration parameters indicating: that the second cell isconfigured to cross-carrier schedule the first cell; and a carrierindicator field value associated with the first cell, wherein a carrierindicator field employs a first quantity of bits less than a secondquantity of bits associated with a cell identifier of the first cell;receive, via the second cell, downlink control information (DCI),indicating resources of the first cell, comprising the carrier indicatorfield value; and receive a packet via the resources of the first cell.2. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted by the one or more processors, cause the wireless device to:based on receiving the carrier indicator field value of the DCI, that isassociated with the first cell, determine to receive the packet via theresources of the first cell.
 3. The wireless device of claim 1, whereinthe carrier indicator field is associated with the second cell.
 4. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein: the cell identifier employs fivebits; and the carrier indicator field employs three bits.
 5. Thewireless device of claim 1, wherein a plurality of cells, comprising thefirst cell and the second cell, are grouped into a plurality of physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) groups comprising: a primary PUCCH groupcomprising a primary cell, wherein the primary cell is configured for atransmission of a primary PUCCH signal to a base station; and asecondary PUCCH group comprising a PUCCH secondary cell, wherein thePUCCH secondary cell is configured for transmission of a secondary PUCCHsignal to the base station.
 6. The wireless device of claim 5, whereinthe plurality of cells are in a cross-carrier scheduling groupcomprising a second plurality of cells that are part of a same physicaluplink control channel (PUCCH) group.
 7. The wireless device of claim 1,wherein the cell identifier comprises one or more parameters comprising:a subgroup index; and a cell index.
 8. The wireless device of claim 1,wherein the instructions, when executed by the one or more processors,cause the wireless device to transmit, via the second cell, schedulinginformation for one or more cells, wherein each of the one or more cellsis indicated by a second carrier indicator field within a cross-carrierscheduling group.
 9. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein theresources of the first cell comprise a plurality of resource blocks. 10.The wireless device of claim 1, wherein the configuration parametersfurther comprise a starting symbol of a downlink shared channel, andwherein the starting symbol is associated with a plurality of subframes.11. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein: the first cell is in afirst cross-carrier scheduling group; a third cell is in a secondcross-carrier scheduling group; and the first cell and the third cellare assigned a same carrier indicator field.
 12. A method comprising:receiving, by a wireless device configured to communicate via at least afirst cell and a second cell, configuration parameters indicating: thatthe second cell is configured to cross-carrier schedule the first cell;and a carrier indicator field value associated with the first cell,wherein a carrier indicator field employs a first quantity of bits lessthan a second quantity of bits associated with a cell identifier of thefirst cell; receiving, via the second cell, downlink control information(DCI), indicating resources of the first cell, comprising the carrierindicator field value; and receiving a packet via the resources of thefirst cell.
 13. The method of claim 12, further comprising: based onreceiving the carrier indicator field value of the DCI, that isassociated with the first cell, determining to receive the packet viathe resources of the first cell.
 14. The method of claim 12, wherein thecarrier indicator field is associated with the second cell.
 15. Themethod of claim 12, wherein: the cell identifier employs five bits; andthe carrier indicator field employs three bits.
 16. The method of claim12, wherein a plurality of cells, comprising the first cell and thesecond cell, are grouped into a plurality of physical uplink controlchannel (PUCCH) groups comprising: a primary PUCCH group comprising aprimary cell, wherein the primary cell is configured for a transmissionof a primary PUCCH signal to a base station; and a secondary PUCCH groupcomprising a PUCCH secondary cell, wherein the PUCCH secondary cell isconfigured for transmission of a secondary PUCCH signal to the basestation.
 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the plurality of cells arein a cross-carrier scheduling group comprising a second plurality ofcells that are part of a same physical uplink control channel (PUCCH)group.
 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the cell identifier comprisesone or more parameters comprising: a subgroup index; and a cell index.19. The method of claim 12, further comprising transmitting, via thesecond cell, scheduling information for one or more cells, wherein eachof the one or more cells is indicated by a second carrier indicatorfield within a cross-carrier scheduling group.
 20. The method of claim12, wherein the resources of the first cell comprise a plurality ofresource blocks.
 21. The method of claim 12, wherein the configurationparameters further comprise a starting symbol of a downlink sharedchannel, and wherein the starting symbol is associated with a pluralityof subframes.
 22. The method of claim 12, wherein: the first cell is ina first cross-carrier scheduling group; a third cell is in a secondcross-carrier scheduling group; and the first cell and the third cellare assigned a same carrier indicator field.
 23. The method of claim 12,wherein the carrier indicator field value is used in the second cell toindicate the first cell.